YSR Congress Party

YSR Congress Party
Chairperson
Secretary-General Dinakar V R (Tirupati)
Lok Sabha leader Mekapati Rajamohan
Founded 12 March 2011 (2011-03-12)
Headquarters Hyderabad, Telangana, India
Student wing YSR Student Union
Youth wing YSR Congress Youth Wing
Women's wing YSR Congress Mahila Wing
Labour wing YSR Congress Trade Union
Colours Blue  
ECI Status State Party[1]
Seats in Lok Sabha
9 / 545
Seats in Rajya Sabha
0 / 245
Seats in the Legislative Assembly
  • 67 / 175
    (Andhra Pradesh)
  • 3 / 119
    (Telangana)
Election symbol
Website
www.ysrcongress.com/en/
Politics of India
Political parties
Elections

YSR Congress Party or Yuvajana, Shramika, Rythu Congress Party[2] (lit. Youth, Labour and Farmer Congress Party) is a regional political party in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in India. It was founded by Siva Kumar in 2009 and taken over by Y. S. Jagan, the son of former Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy (popularly known as YSR) in 2011.[3] Both YSR and YS Jagan (called Jagan by his beloved ones) had been members of the Indian National Congress.[4] YS Jagan was also elected as the national president of the party.[5]

History

After the unexpected death of YS Rajasekhara Reddy, then the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh in a helicopter crash in September 2009.[6] his son YS Jagan, the incumbent MP from Kadapa, started an Odarpu Yatra (condolence tour) across Andhra Pradesh, supposedly to console the families of those who had committed suicide or died of shock after the death of his father. This was however not supported by the Congress leadership.[7] Congress President Sonia Gandhi claimed the rising volatile situation in the state regarding the Telangana issue as the main reason for opposing the "Odarpu Yatra". Defying the Congress High Command's order to call off the tour, YS Jagan went ahead with the first leg of the "Odarpu Yatra" in the West Godavari and Khammam districts from in April 2010.[8]

Meanwhile, the YS Jaga -owned Sakshi TV news channel and Sakshi newspaper had been continuously criticizing the new Chief Minister Konijeti Rosaiah and the Congress leadership at New Delhi. In a special programme on Sakshi TV to mark the 125th anniversary celebrations of the Congress party, a voice-over made remarks on Sonia Gandhi and the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the "current state of affairs" in the State, which invited anger and protests from the Congress loyalists and increased the gap and friction between YS Jagan and the Congress loyalists.[9] The channel later deleted those remarks in a re-telecast.

Creation of the new party

After accusing the Congress of ill-treating him and creating rifts in his family by luring his uncle YS Vivekananda (younger brother of YSR) with a state ministerial berth in the aftermath of the death of his father, YS Jagan and his mother Y. S. Vijaya Lakshmi resigned from the Kadapa Lok Sabha and Pulivendula Assembly constituencies respectively and also as members of the Congress in November 2010.[10] They took over the leadership of an existing YSR Congress Party in March 2011, which was founded by Siva Kumar, a fan of YSR, in 2009.[3][11] Many Congress leaders loyal to YS Jagan also quit the Congress and joined the YSR Congress. This resulted in the weakening of the Congress's strength in both the assembly and the Lok Sabha, necessitating by-elections. In the ensuing by-elections, the party won most of the vacated seats with many of the Congress and the Telugu Desam Party (the main opposition) candidates losing their deposits.[12] The party has a strength of 67 members in the 175-member state assembly and 9 members in the Lok Sabha(out of 42 in AP) as the election results declared on 17 May 2014, simultaneously.[13]

Electoral performance

In March 2012, YSR Congress won the Kovur assembly seat in Nellore district in a by-election.

On 10 30, 2012, YSR Congress won the Nellore Lok Sabha seat and 15 of 18 assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh. YSR Congress leaders P. Subhash Chandra Bose from Ramachandrapuram constituency of East Godavari district and Konda Surekha from Parakala constituency of Warangal district, both ministers in the YSR cabinet, had switched to YSR Congress party but lost their races.[14] The Modi wave across the country impacted the electoral performance of the party in 2014 and lost the elections to its opponent political rival Telugu Desam Party.

Results

Year Election Seats Won Seats Contested
2012 Assembly (By) 15 18
2014 Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly election, 2014 67 175
Year Election Seats Won Seats Contested
2012 Lok Sabha Bypoll 2 2
2014 Lok Sabha General Elections 9 25

See also

References

  1. ↑ "List of Political Parties and Election Symbols main Notification Dated 18.01.2013" (PDF). India: Election Commission of India. 2013. Retrieved 9 May 2013.
  2. ↑ "Why YSR Congress?". 2011. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
  3. 1 2 "'YSR Congress'- The Times of India". The Times Of India.
  4. ↑ Rao, A. Srinivasa "YS Jagan acquires YSR Congress Party from worker" ''indiatoday.intoday.in'' February 17, 2011. Indiatoday.intoday.in (2011-02-17). Retrieved on 2011-10-20.
  5. ↑ NATIONAL / ANDHRA PRADESH : YS Jagan is national president of YSR Congress Party. The Hindu (2011-02-22). Retrieved on 2011-10-20.
  6. ↑ http://news.in.msn.com/national/article.aspx?cp-documentid=3202913
  7. ↑ "Defiant YS Jagan to go ahead with 'Odarpu' yatra - The Times of India". The Times Of India.
  8. ↑ http://zeenews.india.com/election09/story.aspx?aid=640242
  9. ↑ With TV attack on Sonia & PM, YS Jagan signals it’s time to go. Indian Express (2010-11-21). Retrieved on 2011-10-20.
  10. ↑ http://zeenews.india.com/news/nation/jagan-quits-congress-to-float-ysr-congress_671102.html
  11. ↑ Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : YS Jagan is national president of YSR Congress Party. The Hindu (2011-02-22). Retrieved on 2011-10-20.
  12. ↑ "News / National : YS Jagan quits Congress, Kadapa Lok Sabha seat". The Hindu (2010-11-29). Retrieved on 2011-10-20.
  13. ↑ http://indianexpress.com/article/india/politics/lok-sabha-election-results-2014-andhra-pradesh/
  14. ↑ "SY Jagan's YSR Congress wins Nellore Lok Sabha, 15 assembly seats". The Times Of India. 15 June 2012.

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